Sober
by Coconuttii
Summary: A bit of drinking never hurt anyone, did it? The honest heart open eyes. Friendship & shounen ai ahead.


"Up-up-up, oooh... where're ma fee', where're ma feet...hahaha! W-wait! Yama—kuUUn, you're wa—haha! Wait!"

The dimly lit street boomed with the power of a hot-blooded voice.

Yamato staggered under the weight of Konoha's Blue Beast, his drunken reeling and tottering sending all three jounin senseis dancing like string puppets. The auburn-haired shinobi's legs wobbled with weight and drink, and he stared, dozy-eyed, at Gai when he heard his name.

"Oi, Yama... Yamato-kun, yer'a gr...great-great teacher, ya know..." the rosy flush on the hot-blooded fella's cheeks made his temples sweat, his spirits soar, and his body tingle. Ah, this was the time to really LIVE! Maito smiled at his new comrade, "I hear from my kids th-that yer a-a pretty har' case!"

Kakashi's visible eye crinkled into a smile. This would be interesting. He regarded his hot-blooded rival, and then his kouhai.

"I... I wouldn't say _that_, Gai-sempai..." the slightly younger man smiled, sweating a bit. '_A reputation. That's good for a sensei, right?_' "I just like to be, uh...to keep things in control," Yamato responded uncertainly, trying not to look his sempai in the eyes. Knowing that there was an obvious jibe in there somewhere, and not wanting to get in the copy-ninja's bad books. He had never been there, but he knew, ever since the day he was assigned to Hatake's ANBU squad, that 'there' was a very fearsome place to be.

"Sc'ry eyes! HaHA!" Gai piped up, blissfully, and Yamato's pale face drooped as though a lead weight had been hung from it, "Tha's yer signature with th' kidsh, ya know!" At his side, the silver-haired jounin smiled, clearly amused, his gloved hand squeezing the small of Gai's lean back, getting him moving.

The former ANBU's lips tightened as his comrade swayed him around, affected by those words like any new teacher fresh into their profession with high hopes. He was already being talked about like that, huh? Maybe he'd have to have a little discussion with a certain kyuubi-host on that matter...

"Ish a goo' thing, tha's disshipline! Gai harped on, patting his shoulder, "I gotta sig, too! So's-" he thumbed at Kakashi, who blinked in his usual idle fashion, "Ish jus' yer mark – show's yer accepted, ya know? 'Sides, like yer idealsh!" he flashed his perfect ivories at the younger shinobi, leaning in and knocking their heads together, grinding brows, "We're like-min'ed! L-like-minded! Disshipline is important, ish healthy fer'a student ta fear 'is sensei, jush a lil' bit! Gahahaha~!"

Yamato's face darkened with an illusory blue gloom. Now they were _scared_ of him? He despaired, bowing his head forward a tad, feeling like his brain was bashing against his skull with a playful bounce. In a good way. At Gai's side, with his sempai, and a belly lined with sake, he didn't despair long. It was weird to see things in such honest clarity, when you'd had enough to see past what society demanded. Past that stringent sort of order and conformity. After all, his sempai, and his comrades, were of the highest ranking shinobi in Konoha, no, in existence, and most were, well...some would say... _strange_, in their own unique ways.

He turned a narrow glance at his sempai; wavering eyes fixing on him, making the silver-haired man tilt his head and then stumble as Gai began wrestling with his helping hand.

Strange, unorthodox, but so competent. It made the new jounin's head swim.

Yamato had learned that Gai made real sense a lot of the time, to him, and a few of the elite sensei's he'd met since he started work out in central Konoha. He was pure, honest, hard-working. Those qualities were admired, Gai was admired, but, like a few of the younger students he'd been teaching recently... he could be a handful.

The ex jutsu experiment was snapped from his inner musings as Gai turned to him. The Blue Beast's dark eyes hardened, trying to focus, "D...don' you go li' Kakashi here-"he flexed a broad arm muscle around the copy-ninja's neck, making that languid eye bulge, "Al-always late'n sittin' on 'is ass lika sloth tha' a'e too mush!" he looked at his rival with wild dark eyes which were oddly affectionate, waiting on the other man's response with bated breath. Also trying to keep from falling flat on his face.

"...Mm? Did you say something?" Kakashi quipped after a long, measuring stare of the other shinobi.

"Gaaah! ...Yer sho hip..." Gai almost whined, his deep voice rasping with drink as he drooped on both jounin's shoulders. His metaphorical waves were as plastered as he, sloshing around in the depths of his mind, dousing and pickling his brain in salt-water.

Tenzou regarded Gai evenly, a smile settling on his ashen lips. He was a fun, nice guy, but he was pretty_ wild_. He looked over at his sempai, his older captain, Hatake Kakashi, juggling a muscled arm over his shoulder, assessing the road. This was the first time he'd been invited for a drink with his fellow senseis, and it had been, well... a _blast_, if he was totally honest with himself. His head was spinning with what little sake he'd gotten down, half of it forced by Gai's masculine, friendly hand. It was a good feeling. He felt lighter than he did without a belly lined with dango and spirits. He laughed at Gai's antics, and Kakashi-sempai's innocent jibes, when all other times he would distance out, stammer, not commit anything. Force of habit that a life of ANBU law and regulation had taught him.

But... right now... At the side of his sempais, he felt at ease; welcome. Like he, as a ninja, no; as a person, really belonged. Belonged as himself, a man. Tenzou. Now Yamato. Not as a convenient, genetically treated instrument.

"Anou..." His sempai was looking at him.

"Ah! Kakashi-sempai, what is it?"

"I'll take it from here," the laid-back shinobi replied in his usual sluggish drawl, giving a slow blink at the younger man as Gai fisted an eye childishly, yipping happy nothings to himself as he heaved up his lean, potent body on the others that held him.

"Are you sure, sempai?" Tenzou blinked lazily, making a move to walk on, until Kakashi nodded the affirmative. _He felt like he could walk on forever~!_

"Mmn. You've got your hands full tomorrow. You don't like to be late, ne?" the silver-haired man stated, wrestling for Gai's arm as the other fella wrestled the air, smirking at the vacant space like a world-class victor. Kakashi lowered his head, leaning in like he was sharing a dirty secret, "Anou... you'll need as much time as possible to sleep that off, Tenzou..."

"D-Don't call me that, sempai!" Yamato blustered, tightening his lips and stepping back. He blinked, startled, suddenly recognising that he was plowed. The ex-ANBU tried to stand up straight and still, and failed by a margin. He had enough sense about him to be nervous about that; those rhombus eyes that could stare so chillingly were wide as saucers. Kakashi's own, lazy, burnt-out eyes crinkled in amusement.

'_He cares so much already, hm? Heh.._.' Already caring whether he screwed up lessons a little, caring if he didn't discipline his students aptly, caring so much if they strayed even an edge away from him. Kakashi heaved a sigh, as his breathed in Gai's manly, sake-doused scent. Caring hurt his gut. Burned there, like an ulcer. Every step that a kid took away from those who fought for him so desperately was like a pulse in some hidden sore. But like any ulcer, it didn't abscond through lies.

Just another fact of life that his kouhai was going to have to experience one day. Kakashi wished him a world of luck. Hoped he wouldn't meet any more Sasukes.

Still, it would be better that he take Gai home. _He's a bit... excited, today.._. The copy-ninja scratched his cheek.

Over the years, Kakashi had learned what settled him. Few things settled Maito Gai better than a good, brutal, bloody-knuckled fist fight, the happiness of his students, or time spent with his rival. The jounin wondered if he should take even the vaguest pride in that fact. That the hot-blooded shinobi sought him for peace of mind. His lone eye grinned. So few people did, so few people were willing to come to him for even the most innocent of pursuits, never mind to seek his friendship, and that, well... he sort of took pride in that. Distance had always been a good thing since he was a kid... An obligatory thing.

But Gai, like a boomerang, kept coming back no matter how many times he was thrown away. It was getting to be like that with his young troublemaker, Uzumaki Naruto, too. He sweated under his headband, grunting as he shouldered on Gai's entire weight as Tenzou slipped it on him. Moa... He could already feel himself going soft... _pudgy_. Like the back of Pakkun's collar, but...anou... not quite as charming, "Yare, yare...!"

"YOOOSH! Let's do it again, Yamato-kun! With eash other, I mean! Lez hav'a good time, how's 'bout that?!" Gai exclaimed cheerfully, waving his arm around in a powered circle, muddling his words as badly as his adorable student would when he was too darned excited to think straight.

The wood-wielding nin rubbed the back of his auburn hair and smiled, not quite translating the words into blatant sexuality as he would if he had a clear head, "Thanks for having me, sempai!"

Konoha's Copy-ninja raised a hand and smiled under his mask at his kouhai, "See you, Tenzou-kun~!"

"Ahhh..._**SEMPAI**_!!"


End file.
